Thursday, April 5, 2012

Used Book Haul

Man, my shelves are groaning. Every so often the thrift store nearby has a bumper crop of goodies. Anyone familiar with any of these titles? I enjoyed The Woman in White last year and have been looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of The Moonstone. Today was my lucky day. Then there's Oscar Wilde. I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray, so Complete Short Fiction is a logical next step. Fitzgerald! I haven't read anything by him except The Great Gatsby, which I was actually kind of so-so on. But I at least want to be a little more familiar with his other works before I make a call on whether I like him or not. This Side of Paradise for less than a dollar? I could hardly pass that up. The Emperor's Children (a couple of women friends finding themselves in NYC) sounds kind of . . . campy. And it won the NYT Book Review's Book of the Year award, which is something, so into the basket it goes. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man looks like it will scratch my addict-memoir itch quite nicely, as will The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, which is a memoir of stroke recovery. Then, lastly, The Bookseller of Kabul (a stalwart fellow keeps a bookshop open in war-torn Afghanistan) How could ANYONE with a bookshelf and a heart pass that up?!

Sam - that's great to hear! I just looked back at my review of WiW and see that I had some issues with it that I had totally forgotten about, which is funny since I seem to remember quite liking it. Must have been an off day. Anyway, if Moonstone is a straightforward detective story then I'm all for it.

I've been wanting to read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for a while, ever since I heard about it in a neuroscience class. I finally saw the film last year and I really enjoyed it.

I've owned The Emperor's Children for a long time now but I've been hesitant about starting it because it received some really bad reviews, and it has one of lowest scores on Goodreads that I've seen. But something prevents me from giving it away until I've tried it and come to my own conclusions about it. The premise sounds like something I'd really enjoy.